‘I’m happiest when I have everything I need on my back or my bike,’ says former GB rower-turned-adventurer Anna McNuff. ‘Seven years ago, I found myself working in an office feeling creatively stifled and physically unfit. I asked myself: “Do I still want to be here in the next five years?” And the answer was no. So I saved up, quit my job and cycled 11,000 miles solo across 50 states in the USA.’ Next came running the length of New Zealand on the 1,900-mile Te Araroa Trail, six months cycling through the Andes (she’s writing a book about her journey) and, closer to home, wild camping in the counties around London: ‘I decided that every Wednesday I would sleep outside on a hill to prove that you could still be adventurous living in the city. I began with a group of four girlfriends; in six weeks it had grown through word of mouth to 150.’ These campouts were the seedling for Adventure Queens, the not-for-profit women’s community McNuff started in 2017 with freelance marketer Emma Frampton, which offers practical tips and advice on wild camping to its 7,000 social-media followers.

This article was first published in the April 2019 issue of Traveller magazine

The past few years have seen a ton of female-run organisations spring up, tapping into a growing trend of empowered urbanites wanting to embrace their outdoorsy side. These tent-pitching, map-reading, fire-starting types are escaping the city grind for perspective-shifting physical challenges in their spare time, from scaling peaks at sunrise to kayaking adrenalin-rush rapids. It’s no coincidence either that this movement is especially concentrated in the UK and USA in an era of great uncertainty – what better way to shut out the politicalbabble than with a head-clearing hike along a knockout coastal path?

There’s Gutsy Girls, which was founded by Natalie Bannister when she moved to London after a few years in Portugal; she missed surfing and paddle-boarding, and wanted to set up a community where women could try new sporting activities. Now she organises all-female weekend SUP retreats in Norway, cycling weeks in Mallorca and surfing holidays in the Algarve. And Bex Band, a qualified mountain leader and former secondary-school teacher, started Love Her Wild, organising women-only expeditions after getting hooked on the 620-mile Israel National Trail three years ago. ‘I fell in love with the simplicity of hiking, camping and cooking dinner; it completely changed everything in my life and I wanted to create a supportive space for like-minded adventurous women,’ says Band, who updates her 5,000-strong private Facebook group with news of forthcoming trips that include hiking the Skye Trail on the Isle of Skye and climbing Mount Fuji in Japan.

For Sasha Cox it was a light-bulb moment on a backpacking trip with her boyfriend in Bolivia six years ago that led to her setting up her adventure company, Trail Mavens, in California. ‘Cooking breakfast one morning, I realised that I had never been camping or hiking with my closest girlfriends. We would make dinner and go to the theatre together, but spending time in nature had never even come up in conversation – which I thought was ridiculous, because it is the place that makes me feel the strongest and the best version of myself,’ she explains. ‘I spoke to lots of women and they either didn’t head outdoors or if they did, it was with a man and they never got the chance to light the fire or have a go at putting up the tent.’

Of course, you only have to type ‘19th-century female explorers’ into Google to be reminded that women (Isabella Bird, Gertrude Bell) have been crossing deserts and climbing mountains for years. The difference is that while they were once seen as interlopers in a man’s world, more recent pioneers such as polar adventurer Rosie Stancer (who is currently planning the first female-led expedition to cross the length of the Taklamakan Desert in China) have paved the way for the next generation to become part of the conversation.

Another game-changer was Cheryl Strayed’s 2012 memoir, Wild: A Journey from Lost to Found, about her soul-restoring time on the Pacific Crest Trail. This month, author and photographer Gale Straub is releasing She Explores, 40 first-person tales from women inspired by their adventures. Highlights include a musical duo who play sunrise summit concerts (past audiences: Mount Pilchuck in Washington and the Monte Cristo Range in Utah); Sarah Attar, one of Saudi Arabia’s first female Olympic athletes, who runs the backcountry trails of the Eastern Sierra; and Marinel Malvar de Jesus, who swapped a career as a lawyer for the life of a mountain nomad.

The movement is spreading: around the globe, women are being galvanised to get outdoors and get stuck in, whether through Australia’s Women Want Adventure trips or the inspiring Arugam Bay Girls, Sri Lanka’s first official all-female surf club. It’s about achieving boundary-pushing goals, but often the real buzz comes from sharing those experiences with like-minded women. As Bannister says of the 70-mile Fjällräven hike through Swedish Lapland, which she completed last year: ‘I wanted to see how far I could push my comfort levels; the mental challenge was being freezing cold in a tent and having to hike another 12 miles the next day. I was with this incredible group of women, and I knew they all had my back.’

How to spot the species

Diurnal by nature, these muscular creatures rise wide-eyed before dawn, often inside ethical-down-filled Tundra sleeping bags in pop-up tents on a mountainside or deep in a rust-coloured canyon. Their agile movements can be tracked to the most extreme natural spaces on earth – scaling an ice shelf in Greenland, cycling New Zealand’s Desert Road or kayaking a Zambezi tributary – though a coastline path close to home will do. They conquer in packs of three or more, quick with a high-five or rallying cry. Fuel is 2,200 calories a day of cashew butter, power proteins, Vivo powder drinks and oats; a whey Clif bar is tightly zipped into the thigh pocket of their thermodynamic Lululemon leggings. Whether they’re attempting a crossing of the Finnmark Plateau in -10°C or hiking the Big Sur bluffs in spring, you can spot them by their identifying markings. Sturdy Salomon shoes and Osprey backpack over a North Face fleece. Clean faced. Slicked-back ponytail. Neatly threaded eyebrows are all that betray the professional lives they’ve put on hold. Phones stay off, save for the obligatory top-of-the-mountain Instagram snap, toned arms raised in triumph, endorphin-triggered grins across sweaty, happy faces. #outdoorwomen; #sheroams; #thisgirlcan.